Due to the increasing global demand for clean energy, the solar energy market capacity substantially increased for the previous five years. However, the manufacturing of solar panels may unfortunately bring a few environmental downsides.
First, the production of the panels requires the use of caustic chemicals and the process involves the use of electricity and water. As a result, this process alone results in greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, this process also produces waste.
The environmental downsides brought by the production of solar panels can undermine its ability to offset climate change and diminish environmental waste.
Based on Solar Scorecard’s new ranking that involves 37 solar energy businesses, some companies are performing better than others. The scorecard measures the environmental impacts delivered by specific solar products from a specific manufacturer.
The use of a scorecard aims to increase transparency among manufacturers in terms of the environmental impacts their products can give throughout their entire life-cycle.
Nowadays, solar manufacturers are holding very higher standards to ensure that they produce sustainable solar panels. Thus, most solar energy companies these days are putting great effort into making their products as eco-friendly as possible.
